In each edition of this newsletter, I will share some inspiring web resources that I have curated after hours of research to ensure that you have the best education coffee in your inbox. In upcoming editions, I will focus on sharing insights, notes and realizations that I gather from people, ideas, books, films and podcasts. I will continue to write about education and learning as well and hope to be more consistent with the publication of this newsletter this year. Please subscribe to this newsletter if you enjoyed reading this edition. We are now 90 subscribers strong!
1. Learning from People
Dhananjay Yellurkar is a senior finance professional and an avid marathoner. After a heart attack in his 40s, he decided to develop a goal to run a marathon in all seven continents. I got to interview Dhananjay for my podcast, Learning Stories and was inspired by his journey. He got me excited about running again and was one of the reasons I successfully trained and completed a half marathon in April 2023. Here is a description of his book from the jacket
In this inspiring memoir, Dhananjay Yellurkar brings to life the old adage about mind over body and shares his story of becoming the rare person who has run full marathons across six continents post his heart attack and open-heart surgery. His transformative journey from being a breadwinner in his mid-40s, struggling to deal with the aftermath of a major surgery to becoming a passionate long-distance runner is written in a breezy yet captivating style. From the challenges of training regularly on the streets of Mumbai, running marathons in New York City, Berlin, Paris and Gold Coast, donning the cap of a pacer at Mumbai, running an adventure marathon in the savannahs of South Africa to completing one of the toughest marathons in Antarctica, the reader is immersed in a mesmerizing journey of a former non-athlete that is filled with a spirit of grit, tenacity and hope.
You can buy this book on the Notion Press website at this link. It offers a step by step guide to prepare for a long distance running event. You can watch the full interview below
2. Learning from Ideas
Popcorn and other concession goodies generate 40% of movie theater profits and there is often a 1000% markup on the price of popcorn. Yes, I buy a lot of popcorn at the movies even though I have so many bags of unpopped popcorn at home. Why did popcorn get so popular at the movies? This TED-ED video helped me understand why
3. Learning from Books, Websites and Blogs
The School of Life is a global organisation helping people to lead more fulfilled lives through useful resources and tools. The publish videos, books and articles on self knowledge, relationships, calm, leisure, work and sociability. They have a web archive of 500+ articles on the above themes. I really enjoy how they are able to articulate important insights from film, artworks and popular culture about what it means to be human. Some of their articles are paid but you can read snippets of them for free on the community section of their Youtube channel. Here is a passage from the a recent post where they spoke about how to appreciate something beautiful
WHEN SOMETHING IS BEAUTIFUL... It might be a tree in blossom, some daffodils, an ancient cottage, an old stone wall, the dawn sky... Such things may delight us but can also make us sad, for we know ourselves well enough by now; we know our difficulties holding on to anything nice for very long, we know how many special things we’ve glimpsed and wanted never to forget and then let slip entirely from our minds (the trip to the islands, the medieval town by mountain, the evenings by the lake, the fields of poppies, the painting in the upper gallery of the provincial museum). We sense how far in exile we live from what we really cherish. Nowadays, what we mostly do in the presence of beauty is - of course - take a photo. And never look at it again. What if we were to try something else next time? What if we attempted to understand what was stirring us rather than merely walking off with a physical image? When we see a tree in blossom in a city street, what if we stepped back on the pavement and asked ourselves - like a Martian, a child, philosopher or a lunatic - why this thing delights us and might even threaten to make us a little tearful. What if we took some notes under a blatant heading: Why X moves me…
This moved me and made me reflect on my need to capture beautiful moments rather than reflect on why I find them beautiful and why it moves me in that moment of my life. This post was complimented with a painting by Camille Pissaro from 1897 called Le Boulevard Montmartre, fin de journée.
4. Learning from Films, Videos and Shows
The Hollywood Reporter is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. The run a series called THR Roundtable where they bring actors and film makers together to talk about their experience on a specific film and life in general. Their Youtube playlist has an archive of 273 videos from the THR rountable collection. I recently saw the Comedy Actress Roundtable from 2023 with actors like Jenna Ortega, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Elle Fanning, Ayo Edebiri, Devery Jacobs and Natasha Lyonne. They spoke about representation, fan recognition, working with directors, the importance of writing, making money as an actor, being funny on screen, prepping for roles and more. They were so many gems of wisdom in this interview. I love the movies and it was inspiring to hear these actors talk about the process of making the films we love. Hear the full interview for lots of other stories below.
5. Learning from Podcasts and Music
I found a music podcast where singers and musicians are given a chance to talk about how they create music and and their major musical influences. It is called the Music Podcast and you can listen to all their episodes on Spotify and Youtube. The focus is on South Asian artists and the Hindi film industry. My favorite episodes were interviews with Papon, Anuv Jain, Arijit Singh, and Shilpa Rao. I love music from the Hindi film industry and grew up listening to them at the movies. The host Tarsamme Mittal is a talent manager for the music industry and is a great listener. I particularly enjoyed the episode linked below with the singer Shilpa Rao. She spoke about the importance of learning from other artists. As a singer, she mentioned that it was important to practice her craft everyday to get better as a singer. I found it fascinating how she listened to so many different kinds of artists on a day to day basis. You can watch the full episode here. You can find lots of great music recommendations in this interview.
I look forward to writing weekly editions of this newsletter this year. I hope to continue to share resources that will add value to your life. Thank you for subscribing to Education Coffee. You can also review the archive of Education Coffee for free at this link (38 past newsletters).
Please do send me your thoughts and resources on any edition of this newsletter through email at abhishekashokshetty@gmail.com, Linkedin or on twitter @AbhishekShetty_. You can find my work online at https://abhishekshetty.carrd.co/. If you would like to read pieces in the future please do consider subscribing to this newsletter by clicking the button below.
I love taking these discussions forward on those platforms and look forward to hearing your feedback.
Abhishek Shetty